Marketing to Generation x

Marketing to Generation x

Unlike the generations before and after, there isn’t a distinct identity attached to those born in the 60’s and 90’s. As they reach middle age, this generation got stuck smack in the middle of a raging war between emerging and digital versus traditional and analog. Having said that, marketing to Generation X is a tricky task. However, there are some common experiences and traits among members of different age groups that can be used to help strategize and develop marketing strategies that are tailor designed for Generation X.

EMAIL!
Email campaigns are looked upon as greviously outdated by many centuries and seen as too new for some Boomers. For Generation X as well as businesses, however, email is considered the bible when it comes to personal communications. Still, many overlook this medium even though 65% of Business-to-Business (B2B) and 45% of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketers can prove a positive ROI from email. Generation X check theiremail regularly, thus reaching out to them with personalized offers tailored to their interests and prior purchases makes complete business sense.

It’s all about the money, Honey!
Considering it’s size, Generation X has the highest spending power in comparison to all the living generations: it makes up only 25 percent of US population but claims 31 percent of its overall income. Generation X is at the peak of their earning and spending years, but saving money is a huge priority for its members. They have four essential financial priorities: financial independence, home ownership, paying for their children’s college and starting a business. This preference for budgeting, coupled with digital literacy, means that Gen X has the forethought of hunting online for deals. They like to research before making a purchase and tend to look towards review sites like Yelp and Amazon before adding to their collection. A strong marketing idea is to advertise deals on social media with shareable images and include exclusive coupons in your email blasts.

Make a video.
Surprise! Digital video is HUGE among Generation X. It’s even more popular than social networking. This generation regularly consumes advertising and marketing messages from all of the key media channels including social media networks and mobile and cable. Their genre preferences also differ: Generation X has a keen interest in world news and politics that sets it apart from other generations. Creating a video about a product by factoring in current events is sure to hit the right chord with this age group.

Conclusion
While there are ways to restrict who sees a post on social media, it usually makes better business sense to market to just one demographic per platform—otherwise, you’ll turn people off if the majority of your content isn’t relevant to them. Generation X and the generation before and after that have a few things in common! One is the preferred type of content: no matter how old your target audience, their preferred type of content will be blog, images, then comments. Facebook is name that pops up in everyone’s mind, be it any age group when it comes to sharing that content. Demographics are a unique way to predict someone’s buying habits, but they aren’t guaranteed. The more you can learn about your clients—whether from email click-through rates or analyzing what they’re pinning—the better you can directly tailor your marketing strategy to them.